2016 Postmortem
Showing Original Post only (View all)Planned Parenthood Stands with You [View all]
For 100 years, Planned Parenthood has provided reproductive healthcare for American women. I myself received my first gynecological exam at a Planned Parenthood clinic. In many places in the nation, they are the only clinics that provide such services--not just abortion but regular gynecological exams, pap smears, cervicals, and birth control.
We are experiencing renewed calls by the GOP to defund Planned Parenthood and to deprive women of those basic medical services that allow us autonomy over our lives. Now, a movement of some "progressives" has arisen to deny them funding--essentially to encourage private citizens to stop donations--because Planned Parenthood endorsed for the presidency a candidate who has forcefully and proactively defended their work with American women.
The primary contest of 2016 is a historical blip, a brief moment that will pass. The work Planned Parenthood does is far more enduring. Denying Planned Parenthood funding now can result in unwanted pregnancies that might otherwise have been prevented by family planning services birth control. That affects the entirety of women's lives and even subsequent generations.
Yet some insist what really matters is not the work PP does but Bernie's career. They should be punished for failing to endorse him. For that vocal minority of Sanders supporters, his political prospects trump the reproductive rights of the women of America, particularly those in rural and poor areas with no other options.
I don't care much who anyone supports for the nomination, but when Planned Parenthood is targeted because they failed to prioritize the electoral prospects of a particular member of the political elite, an indelible line in the sand is drawn. If Bernie's candidacy is really more important to you than the work Planned Parenthood does, something is seriously wrong. If people advocate that Planned Parenthood be deprived of funding and girls and women saddled with unwanted pregnancy as a result, they forsake any pretense of standing for any just or justifiable cause.
When "progressives" target an organization that has worked for the reproductive rights of women for many decades, their priorities are made clear. It's not enough to openly court the votes of anti-choice advocates, but now they they share the right's enemies list: First Black Lives Matter, then one union after another, Emily's List, and now Planned Parenthood. Why people claim to justify that opposition matters far less than the fact they are actively working to undermine them.
No politician is worth more than the lives and rights of half of the American population. Joining the GOP War on Women is not progressive or leftist. Its simply wrong.
Planned Parenthood has stood with us for 100 years. It's time we stand with them. If you're a Sanders supporter, stand up for equal rights. Make clear that you do not elevate one man above the women and families of America, that supporting Bernie (or Hillary or Martin) demands standing up for rather than forsaking equal rights.
http://www.plannedparenthood.org/donate